painted polka dot wine bottles

If you love wine as much as I do, spare the judgement from the recycling truck and use those empty bottles to make these beautiful, polka dot wine bottle vases. Pair with brightly-colored flowers to add a bit of cheer to any room in your house. Or use them as centerpieces or decorations for your parties this summer.

painted polka dot wine bottles

Before you head to the craft store, a few notes on the paint I used here… Often, to paint on glass, I use Acrylic Enamel paints, which are cured either in the oven or over several weeks. Such paints work well on glass. (Check out these painted wine glassesas an example.) However, to cover larger glass areas with paint, such as these wine bottles, I much prefer to use chalk paint. It covers surfaces quickly, it doesn’t need to be cured, and it dries with a matte finish, so adding the polka dots is easy. You will need to do two to three coats of the chalk paint for opaque coverage, but the Acrylic Enamels would take even more coats. For the polka dots, however, since they are not painted on the glass but on the chalk paint, I simply use regular acrylic craft paint.

First, thoroughly clean the wine bottles and remove the labels. To remove the labels, fill the wine bottles with hot water and let them soak in very hot water for 30 minutes. Peel off the labels, using a straight razor or a sharp knife if necessary to encourage it along. Use a scouring pad to remove any remaining glue. When dry, wipe down the bottle with rubbing alcohol.

Pour some of the chalk paint on a pallet or paper plate. Brush on the chalk paint to completely cover the wine bottles (I left the wine bottle bottoms un-painted). Let dry well and repeat. You may need up to three coats.

When the white paint is fully dry, add your dots in any color. To make a “stamp,” I stacked two mini marshmallows on a toothpick.